WEBVTT - The Noble Revolutionary

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm

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<v Speaker 1>and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Listener discretion advised. It is

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<v Speaker 1>September eleventh, seventeen seventy seven, and a soldier fighting in

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<v Speaker 1>the American Revolutionary War is setting off valiantly into battle

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<v Speaker 1>on Brandywine Creek, about thirty miles southwest of Philadelphia. It's

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<v Speaker 1>a foggy day, but that's not the source of the

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<v Speaker 1>smoke in the man's eyes and nose. The British musket

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<v Speaker 1>balls are flying towards him. Gunpowder erupts everywhere around him.

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<v Speaker 1>Somewhere behind he has left General George Washington. This soldier

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<v Speaker 1>is only twenty years old, and this is his very

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<v Speaker 1>first battle of the war. He has come to the

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<v Speaker 1>army from a great distance away, guided by one goal

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<v Speaker 1>to help secure America's freedom. But right now, as the

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<v Speaker 1>smoke is filling his lungs, his one goal has changed slightly.

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<v Speaker 1>Right now he needs to rally the beleaguered American troops

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<v Speaker 1>against the British in order to stop the British from

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<v Speaker 1>advancing to the capitol in Philadelphia. He also wants to

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<v Speaker 1>stay alive. When the soldier opens his mouth, to speak,

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<v Speaker 1>perhaps to inspire his fellow soldiers. He has a very

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<v Speaker 1>unusual accent, the accent of French nobility. This man, fighting

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<v Speaker 1>in the Continental army of the American Revolution is the

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<v Speaker 1>Marquis de Lafayette. You may know him from lin Manuel

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<v Speaker 1>Miranda's hit musical Hamilton, in which he's described as America's

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<v Speaker 1>favorite fighting Frenchman. That description is exactly right throughout him life.

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<v Speaker 1>Lafayette loved America in ways that would almost certainly embarrass

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<v Speaker 1>any self respecting Frenchman today. He named his son George Washington.

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<v Speaker 1>He kept a gold plated copy of the Declaration of

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<v Speaker 1>Independence in his house in France. He helped recruit the

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<v Speaker 1>French king to fight against the British monarchy on the

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<v Speaker 1>American side. And yet Lafayette's time during the American Revolution

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<v Speaker 1>is only one half of the story. The other half

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<v Speaker 1>happens when he goes back to France afterward, intending to

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<v Speaker 1>spread American democratic ideas, where he encountered instead a bloodthirsty

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<v Speaker 1>mob dead set against an internal rather than external enemy.

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<v Speaker 1>The story of the Marquis de Lafayette is the story

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<v Speaker 1>of a bone deep commitment to democracy, even when that

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<v Speaker 1>democracy was deeply flawed. It's the story of the differences

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<v Speaker 1>between two revolutions, and it's the story of that brave,

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<v Speaker 1>determined Frenchman who ran straight into the heats of the

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<v Speaker 1>Battle of Brandywine with a bullet headed straight for him.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Dana Schwartz, and this is noble blood. Preemptive apologies

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<v Speaker 1>for this pronunciation. But the man named Marie Joseph Paul

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<v Speaker 1>Eves Rouche Gilbert de Montier, better known as the Marquis

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<v Speaker 1>de Lafayette, was born in the south of France on

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<v Speaker 1>September sixth, seventeen fifty seven. If all of those names

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<v Speaker 1>sound like a mouthful, Lafayette himself would have agreed. I

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<v Speaker 1>was baptized like a Spaniard, he wrote later in his memoir,

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<v Speaker 1>with the name of every conceivable saint who might offer

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<v Speaker 1>me more in battle. It was true that his family

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<v Speaker 1>needed wartime protection. They had a long and frightening tendency

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<v Speaker 1>to die bravely and young on world historical battlefields. In

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<v Speaker 1>Lafayette's ancient noble line, his ancestors had fought beside Joan

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<v Speaker 1>of arc And in the Crusades and in King Louis.

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<v Speaker 1>The fifteenth horse Guard, called the Black musketeers. Lafayette's father

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<v Speaker 1>also fought in the Seven Years War, which would spill

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<v Speaker 1>over into the then American colonies as the French and

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<v Speaker 1>Indian War, and, in keeping with the Lafayette tradition, the

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<v Speaker 1>Marquis de Lafayette's father died in battle one month before

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<v Speaker 1>his young son's second birthday. Lafayette spent much of his

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<v Speaker 1>childhood honing his instinct for courage. You might be familiar

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<v Speaker 1>with the legendary be Beast of Jivan Dun, a mysterious

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<v Speaker 1>creature that tormented the French countryside in the middle of

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<v Speaker 1>the eighteenth century. As many as two hundred people were

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<v Speaker 1>attacked by a mysterious wolf or wolf like animal, whose

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<v Speaker 1>physical characteristics grew in size as the legend around the

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<v Speaker 1>creature grew. To this day, historians aren't sure exactly what

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<v Speaker 1>sort of animal or animals were causing the attacks, but

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<v Speaker 1>whatever it was, it galvanized the French government into action. Nobles,

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<v Speaker 1>royal huntsmen, and professional soldiers all set out to try

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<v Speaker 1>and kill the beast. In fact, multiple people would report

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<v Speaker 1>that they were the one who had successfully killed the animal,

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<v Speaker 1>only for the attacks to continue. Lafayette was eight at

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<v Speaker 1>this time, and rather than hide away inside, as no

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<v Speaker 1>doubt many people were advising children to do with a

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<v Speaker 1>mysterious man killing monster on the loose, Lafayette joined the hunt.

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<v Speaker 1>He never found that first beast he pursued, and he

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<v Speaker 1>was soon beset by a different tragedy. When Lafayette was twelve,

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<v Speaker 1>only ten years after his father died, his mother died too. Listeners,

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<v Speaker 1>here's a heads up. If you know the life story

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<v Speaker 1>of Alexander Hamilton, or if you mostly know Lafayette through

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<v Speaker 1>Lin Manuel Miranda's musical version, then you might notice a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of similarities between Lafayette and Hamilton. Their early orphanhood

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<v Speaker 1>won't be the only similarity you notice, although, one thing

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<v Speaker 1>Lafayette did not have in common with Hamilton was the

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<v Speaker 1>fact that he was born of nobility, and not just

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<v Speaker 1>any nobility. When Lafayette became an orphan, he inherited the

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<v Speaker 1>massive family fortune, so before his thirteenth birthday, Lafayette was

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<v Speaker 1>one of the richest aristocrats in all of Europe. Lafayette

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<v Speaker 1>turned nineteen in seventeen seventy six. Word of the American

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<v Speaker 1>Revolution had reached the fashionable salons of France, and the

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<v Speaker 1>French people were, to say the least, thrilled by it.

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<v Speaker 1>After all, they had lost the Seven Years' War miserably

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<v Speaker 1>to Britain. They had given up their Canadian colonies to

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<v Speaker 1>the British, so they loved the idea of Britain getting

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<v Speaker 1>defeated in the most humiliating way too, by one of

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<v Speaker 1>her own colonies. So Parisians were playing a card game

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<v Speaker 1>called Le Boston, and as we mentioned in an earlier

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<v Speaker 1>episode of this podcast, they were all hoping to catch

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<v Speaker 1>a glimpse of the famous Benjamin Franklin, ambassador from America

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<v Speaker 1>in his famous fur cap, and Lafayette, of the long

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<v Speaker 1>line of courageous, battle hungry nobleman, was personally delighted the

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<v Speaker 1>world was being changed across the sea in America. Lafayette

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<v Speaker 1>believed deeply in fairness, freedom and democracy. Perhaps it's a

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<v Speaker 1>slightly strange system of beliefs for a guy who was

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<v Speaker 1>among the richest noblemen in all of France, but it

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<v Speaker 1>was planted firm as a flag in his heart. My

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<v Speaker 1>heart was enlisted, he wrote, and I thought only of

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<v Speaker 1>joining my colors to those of the revolutionaries. So Lafayette

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<v Speaker 1>decided that he had to get to America he approached

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<v Speaker 1>Silas Dean, who was an envoy from Connecticut in Paris,

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<v Speaker 1>trying to help Franklin recruit French aid to the American cause.

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<v Speaker 1>Lafayette had never in his life been in a battle

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<v Speaker 1>any bigger than hunting a wolf monster that may or

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<v Speaker 1>may not have existed, but nonetheless took a look at

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<v Speaker 1>his money and title and made him major general in

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<v Speaker 1>the Continental Army. Of course, the French government wasn't exactly thrilled.

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<v Speaker 1>The King was tacitly allowing frenchmen to go to the

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<v Speaker 1>aid of America, but he himself was thus far still

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<v Speaker 1>publicly neutral. Lafayette's father in law flat out forbade him

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<v Speaker 1>to go. In seventeen seventy seven, Lafayette was nineteen years

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<v Speaker 1>old and his even younger wife was pregnant again at

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<v Speaker 1>this point with their second child, but that didn't matter

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<v Speaker 1>to Lafayette. In his mind, he was consumed with visions

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<v Speaker 1>of glory on the other shore of the Atlantic, and

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<v Speaker 1>nothing could have gotten in his way. And let's not

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<v Speaker 1>forget he was rich. So he paid for his own ship,

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<v Speaker 1>which he named La Victoire. He snuck out onto it,

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<v Speaker 1>leaving behind a goodbye letter for his father in law.

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<v Speaker 1>In the letter, he sounds exactly like the naive, idealistic,

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<v Speaker 1>over enthusiastic nineteen year old that he was. He wrote, quote,

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<v Speaker 1>you will be astonished, my dear Papa, by what I'm

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<v Speaker 1>about to tell you. I am a general officer in

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<v Speaker 1>the Army of the United States of America. And so

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<v Speaker 1>he set out on a long, extremely seasick, eight week

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<v Speaker 1>journey to the United States, nauseus on the deck, steadfastly

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<v Speaker 1>turning his head toward the distant American shore. He couldn't see.

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<v Speaker 1>The young, inexperienced aristocrat was perhaps a little bit of

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<v Speaker 1>a fool, or perhaps he was about to become, as

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<v Speaker 1>historian Sarah Vowell put it, quote the best friend America

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<v Speaker 1>ever had. The first order of business was to find

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<v Speaker 1>revolutionary America BEA's real best friend, George Washington, the commander

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<v Speaker 1>in chief of the Continental Army. So Lafayette made his

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<v Speaker 1>way to Philadelphia, where he met George Washington at City

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<v Speaker 1>Tavern on July thirty first, seventeen seventy seven, a tavern

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<v Speaker 1>which incidentally is still standing on Second Street in Philadelphia today.

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<v Speaker 1>Lafayette spotted Washington across the crowded room. It was a

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<v Speaker 1>scene straight out of a rom com. Washington stood six

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<v Speaker 1>feet tall, a veritable giant for the era. He was

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<v Speaker 1>forty five years old at this point, an august age

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<v Speaker 1>compared to most of the younger revolutionaries, and Lafayette couldn't

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<v Speaker 1>take his eyes off of him. Lafayette made his way

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<v Speaker 1>to the General across the crowded room and stood before him,

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<v Speaker 1>where the two men sized each other up. Lafayette was

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<v Speaker 1>not de v Diggs, by the way, if that's who picturing.

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<v Speaker 1>He was five nine, notably tall, if not giant for

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<v Speaker 1>the age, and a bit stout with red hair. He

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<v Speaker 1>stood in front of Washington filled with excitement and a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit of fear. Lafayette had boarded his ship in

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<v Speaker 1>France not knowing any English. He had studied the language

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<v Speaker 1>on board, but he worried that his newfound English would falter.

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<v Speaker 1>Now when he was desperate for this commander to like him,

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<v Speaker 1>and as in any good rom come, Washington didn't like him.

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<v Speaker 1>At first. America had been flooded with revolution hungary Frenchmen,

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<v Speaker 1>using the American Revolution as a proxy war to avenge

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<v Speaker 1>France's defeat against the British. Washington was getting sick of them. Nevertheless,

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<v Speaker 1>Lafayette persisted. On September eleventh, seventeen seventy seven, he was

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<v Speaker 1>standing beside George Washington as the Battle of Brandywine raged.

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<v Speaker 1>Thus far, Washington had not allowed Lafayette to fight ever

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<v Speaker 1>since landing in America. It it turned out that Lafayette's

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<v Speaker 1>appointment to major general back in France had been merely ceremonial,

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<v Speaker 1>a way to get his French influence and his money.

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<v Speaker 1>But now the British general Cornwallis was coming across the

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<v Speaker 1>Brandywine Creek, and Lafayette was begging Washington to let him

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<v Speaker 1>into the battle. Washington agreed. Lafayette charged into the fray

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<v Speaker 1>through the mist of the foggy day and the terrible

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<v Speaker 1>smoke of the muskets. Here he was, at last, fighting

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<v Speaker 1>for freedom in what felt to him like the center

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<v Speaker 1>of the world. He would be stopped by nothing now,

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<v Speaker 1>not even a bullet that hit him straight through the leg.

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<v Speaker 1>The musket ball went clear through his left calf, but

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<v Speaker 1>Lafayette kept fighting until the blood was literally pouring from

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<v Speaker 1>his boot. After the battle was done, Washington told the

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<v Speaker 1>doctor to take care of Lafayette as if he were

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<v Speaker 1>Washington's own son. The friendship between the two men was

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<v Speaker 1>set both orphans. Lafayette looked up to Washington like a father,

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<v Speaker 1>and Washington happily took on their role. This was a

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<v Speaker 1>Frenchman dedicated in body and spirit to the American cause.

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<v Speaker 1>As long as you fight, Lafayette wrote to Washington, I

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<v Speaker 1>want to fight along with you after Brandywine. Washington wanted

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<v Speaker 1>Lafayette to do exactly that. He successfully lobbied Congress to

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<v Speaker 1>give Lafayette a real, not ceremonial command. But the battle

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<v Speaker 1>that was the American Revolution wasn't only raging on American shores.

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<v Speaker 1>As we discussed in our episode on Benjamin Franklin, the

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<v Speaker 1>American army was cash strapped and resource strapped, ragtag and

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<v Speaker 1>often undisciplined. So the real battle for Washington was also

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<v Speaker 1>the fight for international aid, specifically from France. So Lafayette

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<v Speaker 1>went back to France on January eleventh, seventeen seventy nine,

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<v Speaker 1>about a year and a half after he had landed

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<v Speaker 1>in America. Technically, Lafayette had disobeyed the French crown by

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<v Speaker 1>going to fight in America, and when he got back

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<v Speaker 1>he was placed under house arrest. But it wasn't really

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<v Speaker 1>that serious, Congress wrote a letter on Lafayette's behalf, addressed

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<v Speaker 1>to quote our great, faithful and beloved friend and ally Louis,

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<v Speaker 1>the sixteenth King of France and Navarre. Obviously they were

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<v Speaker 1>trying to butter Louis up. Congress praised Lafayette for his zeal,

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<v Speaker 1>courage and attachment to the cause of revolution against the British,

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<v Speaker 1>and lo and behold the house. Arrest was short lived.

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<v Speaker 1>Lafayette was thrilled to be reunited with his wife, and

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<v Speaker 1>within the year their first son was born. True to form, ever,

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<v Speaker 1>the enthusiastic son of America, Lafayette named the boy exactly

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<v Speaker 1>what you might expect, George Washington Lafayette. Lafayette spent his

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<v Speaker 1>time in France working to help convince the French to

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<v Speaker 1>send aid to the American war effort. But he couldn't

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<v Speaker 1>stay away from his beloved America for long, not when

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<v Speaker 1>his adoptive country was still in the middle of its

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<v Speaker 1>physical war. So on April twenty eighth, seventeen eighty, he

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<v Speaker 1>docked in Massachusetts and again sought out his beloved George Washington.

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<v Speaker 1>The French, he was happy to report, were sending troops

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<v Speaker 1>six thousand French soldiers would be docking shortly under the

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<v Speaker 1>command of General Rochambeau. We all know now that America

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<v Speaker 1>won the Revolutionary War. Lafayette actually fought alongside Alexander Hamilton

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<v Speaker 1>in its last major land battle, the Battle of Yorktown.

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<v Speaker 1>The American Revolution was over, the British crown was defeated,

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<v Speaker 1>and Lafayette was the most beloved and important Frenchman of

0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:30.399
<v Speaker 1>the entire war. He named his next daughter, Virginia, after

0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:35.960
<v Speaker 1>Washington and Jefferson's beloved home state of Virginia. He was

0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:46.920
<v Speaker 1>the consummate revolutionary. But of course then things got more complicated,

0:17:47.440 --> 0:17:52.720
<v Speaker 1>as real life always does. History rarely fits into stories

0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:58.840
<v Speaker 1>of pure heroism or pure villainy, pure revolutionary or full moderate.

0:17:59.400 --> 0:18:03.760
<v Speaker 1>It's always more complicated than that. And when the French

0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:10.280
<v Speaker 1>Revolution came in seventeen eighty nine, Lafayette had been America's revolutionary,

0:18:10.840 --> 0:18:15.800
<v Speaker 1>but he was revolutionary frances moderate. Yes, he wrote the

0:18:15.960 --> 0:18:20.199
<v Speaker 1>French Declaration of the Rights of Man in consultation with

0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:24.000
<v Speaker 1>Thomas Jefferson, who obviously, you know, was the author of

0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.879
<v Speaker 1>the American Declaration of Independence. And yes, he sent the

0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:33.320
<v Speaker 1>key of the infamous Bastille Prison to George Washington in

0:18:33.480 --> 0:18:38.439
<v Speaker 1>Mount Vernon, But in October of seventeen eighty nine he

0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:42.320
<v Speaker 1>also stood on the balcony of Versailles, home of the

0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:47.240
<v Speaker 1>hated King Louis the sixteenth and Marie Antoinette. He stood

0:18:47.400 --> 0:18:52.560
<v Speaker 1>beside the hated queen. The mob below was calling for

0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:56.439
<v Speaker 1>her blood. Lafayette, by then was the head of the

0:18:56.480 --> 0:19:02.440
<v Speaker 1>French National Guard, charged with protecting the beleaguered and reviled

0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:07.119
<v Speaker 1>monarchs in a France full of starving people whose lack

0:19:07.240 --> 0:19:13.080
<v Speaker 1>of representation boiled their blood. Of course, he understood their

0:19:13.200 --> 0:19:20.359
<v Speaker 1>desire for democratic representation for dignity. He was America's great revolutionary,

0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:24.679
<v Speaker 1>after all. He was an abolitionist too, all too aware

0:19:24.760 --> 0:19:28.680
<v Speaker 1>of the abomination of slavery in America where he had

0:19:28.680 --> 0:19:32.800
<v Speaker 1>fought for freedom. Yet the Marquis de Lafayette was also,

0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:38.679
<v Speaker 1>above all, a believer in ordered, fair, free democracy, and

0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:42.960
<v Speaker 1>the anger of the French mob had in his mind

0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:48.199
<v Speaker 1>surpassed reasoned revolution and entered into the pure madness of

0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.920
<v Speaker 1>the mob. He had gone back to France intending to

0:19:52.040 --> 0:19:56.679
<v Speaker 1>spread American democratic ideals, but now he was encountering a

0:19:56.760 --> 0:20:02.879
<v Speaker 1>bloodthirsty revolution against an internal rather than external enemy, with

0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:07.080
<v Speaker 1>the heads of innocence on pikes. So the Marquis de

0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:12.040
<v Speaker 1>Lafayette brought Queen Marie Antoinette out to the balcony. The

0:20:12.080 --> 0:20:17.080
<v Speaker 1>French tricolor glistened in his eyes, reminding him, perhaps briefly,

0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:21.000
<v Speaker 1>of the colors of his most beloved home back in

0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:25.920
<v Speaker 1>the United States, and the great hero of the American Revolution,

0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.600
<v Speaker 1>the man who had sailed from France to free America

0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:35.919
<v Speaker 1>from that tyrant King George kissed the French Queen's hand.

0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:41.439
<v Speaker 1>Why we could write a whole other podcast or a

0:20:41.480 --> 0:20:45.800
<v Speaker 1>book even about this period of Lafayette's life, But in

0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:49.480
<v Speaker 1>many ways it's the story of the difference between these

0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:55.280
<v Speaker 1>two revolutions. The eighteenth century revolutionary period is not as

0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:59.120
<v Speaker 1>simple as many in America assume. Many of us learn

0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:04.880
<v Speaker 1>the Overied version rather flattering to America. We overthrew our

0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:09.320
<v Speaker 1>subservience to monarchy in the revolution that began in seventeen

0:21:09.359 --> 0:21:12.440
<v Speaker 1>seventy six, and then the French were inspired by us

0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.600
<v Speaker 1>and followed suit in their own revolution in seventeen eighty nine.

0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:21.400
<v Speaker 1>But of course the reality is more complicated. You may

0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:24.800
<v Speaker 1>notice that the current government of France is not its

0:21:25.000 --> 0:21:30.080
<v Speaker 1>first republic, as the American system of government is France

0:21:30.160 --> 0:21:35.160
<v Speaker 1>is on its fifth republic. In historian Sarah Vowel's words,

0:21:35.320 --> 0:21:39.520
<v Speaker 1>there were quote decades of instability unleashed by the French

0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:44.480
<v Speaker 1>Revolution as opposed to the governmental continuity spawned by the

0:21:44.520 --> 0:21:49.040
<v Speaker 1>American Revolution. After the French Revolution of seventeen eighty nine,

0:21:49.119 --> 0:21:53.560
<v Speaker 1>of course, Napoleon Bonaparte became emperor not once but twice.

0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:58.080
<v Speaker 1>In between, King Louis the eighteenth was monarch, not once

0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:02.400
<v Speaker 1>but twice. Yette would live through events that are covered

0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:07.399
<v Speaker 1>in another very famous modern Broadway musical, Lame isrob which

0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:11.240
<v Speaker 1>is not actually about the French Revolution of seventeen eighty nine,

0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:17.040
<v Speaker 1>but the Second Revolution of eighteen thirty one. Detail I

0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:22.080
<v Speaker 1>skipped earlier. Lafayette's daughter, Virginny actually had her full name

0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:27.159
<v Speaker 1>Marie Antoinette Virginny. She was named for both the French

0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:31.200
<v Speaker 1>queen and an American state freed from a British king.

0:22:31.840 --> 0:22:37.119
<v Speaker 1>In some ways, that encapsulates Lafayette's entire story. Lafayette was

0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:43.040
<v Speaker 1>simply not revolutionary enough for the French revolutionaries. In seventeen

0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:46.280
<v Speaker 1>ninety two, when he was thirty four, he was jailed

0:22:46.400 --> 0:22:50.560
<v Speaker 1>in Austria. His wife sent their son George Washington to

0:22:50.600 --> 0:22:54.320
<v Speaker 1>safety across the sea, where he stayed at Mount Vernon

0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:58.720
<v Speaker 1>with his godfather, George Washington, by then the President of

0:22:58.760 --> 0:23:05.240
<v Speaker 1>the United States. Lafayette spent five years in prison. Eventually,

0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:07.800
<v Speaker 1>with the help of Napoleon and a little bit of

0:23:07.840 --> 0:23:13.800
<v Speaker 1>American diplomacy, Lafayette was freed in eighteen twenty four at

0:23:13.800 --> 0:23:17.959
<v Speaker 1>the age of sixty six. The Marquis de Lafayette returned

0:23:18.040 --> 0:23:23.200
<v Speaker 1>to America at last. President James Monroe, the fifth President

0:23:23.280 --> 0:23:28.240
<v Speaker 1>of the United States, personally invited him for essentially a

0:23:28.520 --> 0:23:34.119
<v Speaker 1>USA fiftieth Birthday tour. It was like spring break for Lafayette.

0:23:34.320 --> 0:23:38.760
<v Speaker 1>He visited all then twenty four states of the Union,

0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:42.560
<v Speaker 1>and America went wild for him, and he for them.

0:23:43.080 --> 0:23:46.359
<v Speaker 1>He was like a Where's Waldo or Forest Gump of

0:23:46.480 --> 0:23:51.040
<v Speaker 1>early American institutions. He laid the cornerstone for both the

0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:55.840
<v Speaker 1>Brooklyn Public Library and the Monument of Bunker Hill. He

0:23:55.960 --> 0:23:59.359
<v Speaker 1>was there for the infamous election of eighteen twenty four,

0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:03.840
<v Speaker 1>when neither John Quincy Adams nor Andrew Jackson won enough

0:24:03.880 --> 0:24:07.160
<v Speaker 1>electoral votes to be president, and so the election got

0:24:07.240 --> 0:24:10.040
<v Speaker 1>thrown to the House of Representatives. He was in the

0:24:10.160 --> 0:24:15.159
<v Speaker 1>room where loser Jackson Shook winner John Quincy Adams hand

0:24:15.800 --> 0:24:22.120
<v Speaker 1>Lafayette had towns, schools, and endless American children named after him.

0:24:22.920 --> 0:24:27.879
<v Speaker 1>But this triumphant trip would be Lafayette's last visit to America.

0:24:28.480 --> 0:24:32.439
<v Speaker 1>He returned to France and died ten years later on

0:24:32.520 --> 0:24:37.480
<v Speaker 1>May twentieth, eighteen thirty four, at seventy six years old.

0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:40.760
<v Speaker 1>He was buried in France, but he was the world's

0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:45.760
<v Speaker 1>greatest America file until the very end. His son, George Washington,

0:24:46.200 --> 0:24:51.040
<v Speaker 1>spread soil from Bunker Hill atop his grave. The United

0:24:51.080 --> 0:24:55.399
<v Speaker 1>States House and Senate draped their chambers in black to

0:24:55.560 --> 0:25:00.000
<v Speaker 1>mourn him, and the red, white and blue American flot

0:25:00.040 --> 0:25:04.159
<v Speaker 1>flag was mounted on his final resting site, where it

0:25:04.200 --> 0:25:09.199
<v Speaker 1>remained even through the Nazi occupation of France. The flag

0:25:09.440 --> 0:25:19.800
<v Speaker 1>still flies on his grave to this day. That's the

0:25:19.840 --> 0:25:25.679
<v Speaker 1>story of America's noble revolutionary, the Marquis de Lafayette. But

0:25:25.760 --> 0:25:29.240
<v Speaker 1>stay tuned after a brief sponsor break to hear about

0:25:29.240 --> 0:25:33.399
<v Speaker 1>how Lafayette became an official American Long after he died.

0:25:42.440 --> 0:25:46.520
<v Speaker 1>On August six, two thousand and two, the United States

0:25:46.560 --> 0:25:50.480
<v Speaker 1>Congress passed Public Law one oh seven two nine. This

0:25:50.760 --> 0:25:56.240
<v Speaker 1>was a joint resolution of Congress quote, conferring honorary citizenship

0:25:56.359 --> 0:26:01.400
<v Speaker 1>of the United States posthumously on Marie Joseph Paul Eves Roche,

0:26:01.560 --> 0:26:06.840
<v Speaker 1>Jilbert de Montier, the Marquis de Lafayette. Only seven other

0:26:07.000 --> 0:26:10.360
<v Speaker 1>people in history have ever received the honor of being

0:26:10.400 --> 0:26:15.240
<v Speaker 1>granted posthumous American citizenship, and as of two thousand and two,

0:26:15.320 --> 0:26:19.600
<v Speaker 1>there had only been five people. Winston Churchill, prime Minister

0:26:19.680 --> 0:26:23.320
<v Speaker 1>of the UK during World War II, Raoul Wallenberg, the

0:26:23.400 --> 0:26:27.840
<v Speaker 1>Swede who rescued Hungarian Jews from the Holocaust, William and

0:26:28.040 --> 0:26:34.359
<v Speaker 1>Hannah penn founders of Pennsylvania, and mother Teresa Lafayette was

0:26:34.520 --> 0:26:39.399
<v Speaker 1>the sixth to join that list. The joint resolution cited

0:26:39.440 --> 0:26:42.520
<v Speaker 1>his rank of major general, his wounding in the Battle

0:26:42.560 --> 0:26:46.359
<v Speaker 1>of Brandywine, his voluntary offering of his own money to

0:26:46.400 --> 0:26:49.959
<v Speaker 1>support the cause, and the risk to his own life

0:26:50.000 --> 0:26:53.320
<v Speaker 1>that he undertook in order to fight quote for the

0:26:53.359 --> 0:26:57.679
<v Speaker 1>freedom of Americans. One hundred and sixty eight years after

0:26:57.720 --> 0:27:01.679
<v Speaker 1>his death, Lafayette, who had always so dearly wanted to

0:27:01.800 --> 0:27:11.520
<v Speaker 1>belong in America, finally got his wish. Noble Blood is

0:27:11.600 --> 0:27:15.560
<v Speaker 1>a production of iHeart Radio and Grimm and Mild from

0:27:15.560 --> 0:27:19.800
<v Speaker 1>Aaron Manky Noble Blood is hosted by me Danish Forts,

0:27:20.160 --> 0:27:25.040
<v Speaker 1>with additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zewick,

0:27:25.440 --> 0:27:30.320
<v Speaker 1>Courtney Sender, Julia Milani, and Armand Cassam. The show is

0:27:30.480 --> 0:27:35.000
<v Speaker 1>edited and produced by Noemy Griffin and rima il Kaali,

0:27:35.359 --> 0:27:40.480
<v Speaker 1>with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers Aaron Mankey,

0:27:40.640 --> 0:27:45.520
<v Speaker 1>Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. Four more podcasts from iHeartRadio

0:27:45.920 --> 0:27:50.440
<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

0:27:50.480 --> 0:27:56.439
<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows